UN experts decry Israeli occupation of Palestinian areas

By JAMEY KEATEN
Associated Press

GENEVA (AP) — Experts with the U.N.’s top human rights body have decried Israel’s occupation of territories Palestinians seek for their future state, saying it’s “unlawful under international law” and increasingly entrenched. The group appealed to the International Court of Justice to offer its opinion on the matter. The experts, members of a special commission, sent a report on Thursday to the General Assembly. The commission was set up last year in the wake of last year’s 11-day war between Israel and Gaza’s militant Hamas group. The fighting killed at least 261 people in Gaza and 14 people in Israel. Israel’s diplomatic mission slammed the report for making no allusion to the May 2021 conflict or Hamas’ “acts of terrorism.”